Tag: militias

Turkish-backed paramilitary groups, working with the Syrian rebel Ahrar al-Sham militia, have reportedly taken to attacking and torturing Kurdish civilians in northern Afrin, Syria, witnesses alleged this week.

The Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU), a Christian militia in Iraq, is celebrating the hoisting up of a new cross in the destroyed city of Qaraqosh (also known as Baghdeda) that once had 50,000 Christians living there.

In a significant escalation of the battle for Mosul, elite Iraqi special forces joined the fight Thursday, unleashing a pre-dawn assault on an Islamic State-held town east of the besieged city, and the US military announced the first American combat death since the operation began.

The new Libyan “unity” government took a long time to reach the capital of Tripoli, because the Islamist warlords in control of the city would not let them use a plane. They had to sail from Tobruk to Tripoli by boat. They made port at the end of March, but did not get much further than the fortified naval base, where the “Government of National Accord” remains ensconced.

As brutal drug violence in the Mexican states of Michoacán and Guerrero continues, a Mexican prosecutor is claiming that vigilante groups supposedly battling drug cartels alongside the government have been extensively infiltrated by criminals.

Shiite groups in Iraq have issued a statement vowing to fight any American troops on the ground following the announcement of a new deployment of special operations forces to fight the Islamic State in the war-torn nation.

Groups of gunmen are patrolling the border in an effort to “secure” the land that Washington officials will not. The groups, known as militias, have been around for some time and in recent years the various groups have become more noticeable as the topic of border security becomes more heated. Generally militia groups patrol specific areas of the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to detain or turn back human smugglers and drug traffickers. Mainstream media outlets generally demonize the groups claiming that they are extremist and racists.

With the official Iraqi army defeated, Iraqi militias have gathered arms and advanced to Ramadi to counter the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), who recently captured the key town. The militias also hope to stop the terrorist group from entering Baghdad, which is only 70 miles to the west.

In one of the most turbulent areas affected by Mexico’s drug war, more violence is expected after two rival militia leaders were exonerated by a judge for acting in self-defense.

The March 10 ruling resulted in the release from prison of Hipólito Mora, founder of one of the first so-called autodefensa groups in the town of La Ruana, Michoacan, along with 26 of his men, according to a Vice News report. Luis Antonio “El Americano” Torres, leader of the rival Buenavista group, was expected to be released very soon.